Machine for leveling a mixed bed dump

ABSTRACT

A machine for leveling a mixed bed dump includes a transversely extending bridge frame which travels relatively to the dump to be leveled and which includes transversely extending chord girders providing mounts for ring posts at each end at a plurality of transverse locations. The ring posts extend radially outwardly and carry cutting blades or knife edges. Between the knife edges and the chord girders are arranged a mat formed of chains or similar members which arch downwardly during the upward cutting of the knives and receive the material of the dump and subsequently transfer the material into a conveyor running through the central frame work as the ring members are rotated. The apparatus also includes a grate which is mounted on a side and is adapted to engage over the surface of the dump to provide a raking action for any caking material which may be handled.

United States Patent Heitzer Aug. 29, 1972 [54] MACHINE FOR LEVELING A MIXED BED DUMP [72] Inventor: Heinrich Heitzer, Neuss-Weckh,

Germany [22] Filed: Dec. 24, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 101,270

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 2, 1970 Germany ..P 20 00 103.0

[52] US. Cl ..198/36, 198/103 [51] Int. Cl .L....'..B65g 65/28 [58] Field of Search ..198/7, 8, 9, 10, 36, 153, 152', 214/10; 37/96 3,538,995 11/1970 Buligan ..198/9 Primary Examiner-Richard E. Aegerter Attorney-John J. McGlew and Alfred E. Page ABS'I RACT A machine for leveling a mixed bed dump includes a transversely extending bridge frame which travels relatively to the dump to be leveled and which includes transversely extending chord girders providing mounts for ring posts at each end at a plurality of transverse locations. The ring posts extend radially outwardly and carry cutting blades or knife edges. Between the knife edges and the chord girders are arranged a mat formed of chains or similar members which arch downwardly during the upward cutting of the knives and receive the material of the dump and subsequently transfer the material into a conveyor running through the central frame work as the ring members are rotated. The apparatus also includes a grate which is mounted on a side and is adapted to engage over the surface of the dump to provide a raking action for any caking material which may be handled.

9 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to a machine for leveling piles of material, and in particular, to a new and useful device for leveling a mixed bed dump and which includes a transversely extending bridge which moves relative to the dump slope to be leveled and which carries a rotary frame extending over the length of the bridge having one or more knife members which engage into the material to remove it from the dump and convey it centrally into a transversely extending conveyor which is arranged within the bridge.

In a machine of this type, it is known to provide as a receiving device a bladed tube having individual circumferentially arranged blade elements along its length. Such a machine is suitable only for leveling a slope in one direction. If it is to be used for leveling in two directions either special means for the adjustment of the blades or for turning the entire receiving device must be provided. Agreat disadvantage of the known arrangement is the accessibility of the parts of the central delivery conveyor which is arranged inside the tube and located to feed to the delivery chutes. In addition,a closed tubular body is a disadvantageous form as far as the manufacture is concerned and as far as transportation and assembly are concerned but it does provide a satisfactory base for the blades.

In accordance with the present invention, the construction of a device for leveling a mixed bed dump does not include a closed tubular body and blades but it does include a central bridge frame with an exterior rotary receiving device. The machine is constructed so that dumps can be leveled in two directions without the necessity of turning or adjusting the leveling tube. As far as the selected construction is concerned, it should provide satisfactory attendance and accessibility to a central delivery belt which extends from one end of the machine to the other. The device includes a central bridge support having a supporting frame at each end adapted to have wheels for running it along a ground or a trackway and it includes a rotary support device rotating about the bridge. The support device carries a plurality of transversely arranged knife edges located at one or more locations around the periphery. The knife edges extending radially outwardly are mounted on a radially extending support which carries a mat to receive the material cut away by the knife edges and for transporting it upwardly during the rotation and then dumping it centrally into the frame work or bridge. The bridge carries a conveyor which receives the material which is dislodged from the dump by the knives and transports it laterally through the machine. The chain mats are made of a length greater than the distance between the rotatable frame and the outwardly extending knife edges so that they hang limply therebetween and form a receiving pocket or trough directly behind the knives for receiving the material which is cut away from the dump. The leveling is thus possible in two directions since the sag of the receiving mat will reverse when the direction of the rotation of the outer rotatable member is reversed. Thus, the construction does not require special measures for the changing over of the direction of leveling. The same result is achieved when the rotating support body carries knife edges at a distance from the circumference of the support body and the space between the edges and the periphery of the support body are bridged by an elastic strap. The

advantage is that the elastic strap bends under the action of the cutting pressure and produces the necessary adjusting angle of the cutting knife edge so that the trailing edge of the knife which is designed for action in the other direction is withdrawn from the slope and thus only subject to very little wear. The knife edge is advantageously formed as a helically extending body mounted on supporting members of the support body. In this way a continuous cut is achieved.

According to another feature of the invention, the supporting body is formed of a frame work construction with a square or polygonal cross section. This ensures a good accessibility for a central delivery belt which is guided therethrough. In addition, the fame work construction offers the possibility of arrangin g the knife edges on radial mounting members such as ring members so that they are at a distance from the frame work diagonal.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved device for leveling a mixed bed dump which includes a central supporting frame adapted to be mounted on wheeled supporting elements at each end and a rotatable body mounted around said frame for rotation therearound and having one or more knife edges mounted on cylindrical extensions of the rotating body with flexible mats disposed between the knife edges and the rotating body and which sag to permit them to accommodate the material cut away by the knife edges during the rotation thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dump leveling device which includes a wheeled frame having a conveyor extending therethrough for the conveying of the material from one side to the other and carrying a rotatable support with one or more knife edges extending outwardly and being resiliently carried on leg members so that they bend when they engage into the materialand having means associated therewith for lifting material cut away from a dump during rotation of the rotatable member and to deliver it into the frame work and onto the conveyor.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device for leveling mounds of material such as dumps which is simple in design, rugged in construction and economical to manufacture.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a machine for leveling mounted material constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a left end elevational view of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but with the rotating part rotated about 90 and of another embodiment of the invention;

FIG is an end elevational view of the right hand support;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of a raking device for use with a machine such as a machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a transverse sectional view showing another embodiment of machine with rake device; and

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 of still another embodiment of the device.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings in particular, the invention embodied therein in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, comprises a central frame work or bridge structure generally designated 50 which is supported at one end on a gantry or support 9 and at the opposite end on a supporting structure 15. Both the gantry 9 and the support 15 include wheels 14 and 14 respectively for facilitating the traveling of the device on a trackway or ground path 52.

In accordance with the invention, a rotatable supporting body or support frame 1 is rotatably supported by the frames 9 and 15 for rotation around the bridge 50. The support body 1 includes spaced ring members 4 and 5 which extend around the bridge frame work 50, and due to their design as hollow ring bodies, they are capable of absorbing and transmitting bearing forces and moments. The ring members 4 and 5 have cylindrical extensions 6 and 7 which are held in corresponding bearing bodies.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, a conveyor means such as a cross conveyor belt 8 is arranged on the interior of the bridge frame 50 and is oriented with the top open for receiving material. The gantry 9 comprises a frame work 54 which mounts a plurality of corner wheels 10 which provide rotatable guides for the rotatable support body I. The conveyor 8 includes legs 13 mounting the conveyor on a gantry 9 and the top part includes chutes 19 for directing the material downwardly onto the conveyor for movement out to a discharge end 56 for transfer to a further conveyor 58. The frame 15 carries a bearing cylinder 16 which supports this end of the bridge frame and the rotating frame 1. Between the outer ring supports 4 and 5 are arranged a plurality of additional ring shaped posts or supports 3 of the supporting body 1 and these are made of a diameter large enough to mount helically extending knife edges 17 therebetween in a position at which they extend out from the chord girders 2 of the rotatable support 1. Between the knife edges 17 and the support girders 2 are suspended chain mats 18 which are of a length such that they sag in the middle and form a trough which is suitable for receiving material detached from the dump by the knife edge 17 and for lifting this material around up to the vertical position at which it is dumped into the conveyor 8 as shown by the arrow 60 in F IG. 3. The material which is thus dumped is delivered by the conveyor 8 to the discharge 56 for transfer to a transverse conveyor 58.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 6, a rotatable support member 1' has a carrier plate 62 which is secured on stirrups 2' and which mounts a rubber hinge or resilient support web 20. The other end of the web 20 extends radially outwardly and is provided with a T- shaped knife edge 21. During the engagement of the knife edge with the dump slope the web 20 bends under the influence of the cutting resistance, into the position indicated in dotted line 22 in FIG. 6. In this way an adjusting angle 23 is formed on the knife edge 21 which brings the non-cutting edge out of the cutting range and prevents wear of this edge. The strap 20 may be made of any suitable elastic material such as rubber, steel plate, Vulkollan or any other elastomer. A design with a meander-shaped spring element, or spring elements formed by gas cutting can be used. The design with the use of an elastic strap 20 instead of the chain mats 18 provides the advantage that the wear of the device is limited to the knife edges since the other parts are merely stressed by the material sliding over them at reduced velocity and are in addition protected by the gearing material to be delivered. In addition, the selected cross sectional form enhances the discharge which starts sooner than in the case of the receiving device using the chain mats. With selected receiving devices, it is possible to receive the material in two opposite leveling directions. Thus, it is possible to pile up a new dump directly behind the dump to be leveled, that is, behind the working direction.

In the alternate embodiment, a support frame 50' is adapted to carry a rake generally designated 66 which is required for caking material. This rake consists of a grate 24 adapted to the form of the dump and having cross bars 25 equipped with teeth 26 which loosen the material by slight movement parallel to the surface of the dump slope and cause it to trickle down. Since central suspension of the grate construction is not possible due to the absence of a fixed point, the support is effected only by the bridge members 50 preferably at each end. For this purpose a supporting element 27 is provided which supports the grate 24 substantially at the level of its center of gravity. The ends of this supporting element 27 are extended over the rake surface up to the supporting planes in the line of the traveling wheels 11 and 14 and are connected with the slanted arms of the rake frame 24 by box girders 28. In the box girders 28 are arranged hydraulic cylinder piston units 29 whose piston rods receives the fuicrum 30 for the rake 66 on the supporting frames such as 9 and 15 as shown in FIG. 1. For the vertical adjustment of the rake, the fulcrums 30 can be lifted in guides 31 and are adjusted by piston cylinder units 32 operated by a pressure medium. The inclination of the rake frame 24 is adjustable by means of a piston cylinder unit 33. By rhythmic admission of the cylinders 29 and 33 with pressure medium, the rake frame 24 is moved parallel to the slope and allows the material to trickle down.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:

I. A machine for leveling a mixed bed dump. comprising a supporting bridge frame. supporting means adjacent each end of said bridge frame for supporting said frame for movement along a path, a rotatable support member surrounding said bridge frame and rotatably supported on said support means, said rotatable support member including a plurality of members arranged at axially spaced locations along the length thereof projecting radially outwardly from the periphery thereof, and a cutting member having a cutting edge extending in a direction along said support member and being mounted by and between said members in a position to engage the material of the mixed bed dump.

2. A machine, according to claim 1, including receiving means disposed between said cutting member and said support frame extending along the length of said cutting member for receiving the material cut away by said cutting member and conveyor means carried on said bridge frame for conveying material to one end of said bridge frame.

3. A machine, according to claim 2, wherein said receiving means comprises a mat formed of chain link members.

4. A machine, according to claim 2, wherein said rotatable support member comprises a frame work of polygonal cross section.

5. A machine, according to claim 1, wherein said support member has a plurality of cutting members extending along the length thereof and of a form and an arrangement in which they extend helically.

6. A machine, according to claim 1, including a conveyor extending through said supporting bridge frame for conveying material picked up by said receiving means laterally to one side.

7. A machine for leveling a mixed bed dump, comprising a supporting bridge frame, support means adjacent each end of said bridge frame for supporting said frame for movement along a path, a rotatable support member surrounding said bridge frame and rotatably supported on said support means, a resilient support web extending radially outwardly from said support member a cutting member carried at the outer end of said resilient web and having a cutting surface extending in each rotational direction.

8. A machine, according to claim 7, wherein said resilient web defines material receiving means disposed between said rotatable support member and said cutting member for supporting the material removed by the cutting member for rotation with said rotatable support member to a position at which it overlies said bridge frame, said bridge frame having conveyor means for conveying the material to one end of bridge frame.

9. A machine, according to claim 8, wherein said resilient web comprises a flexible member extending generally radially outwardly from said support member, said cutting member comprising an arcuate cutting blade, said web forming a receiving means adjacent each end of said arcuate cutting blade for receiving the materials cut away by said cutting member. 

1. A machine for leveling a mixed bed dump, comprising a supporting bridge frame, supporting means adjacent each end of said bridge frame for supporting said frame for movement along a path, a rotatable support member surrounding said bridge frame and rotatably supported on said support means, said rotatable support member including a plurality of members arranged at axially spaced locations along the length thereof projecting radially outwardly from the periphery thereof, and a cutting member having a cutting edge extending in a direction along said support member and being mounted by and between said members in a position to engage the material of the mixed bed dump.
 2. A machine, according to claim 1, including receiving means disposed between said cutting member and said support frame extending along the length of said cutting member for receiving the material cut away by said cutting member and conveyor means carried on said bridge frame for conveying material to one end of said bridge frame.
 3. A machine, according to claim 2, wherein said receiving means comprises a mat formed of chain link members.
 4. A machine, according to claim 2, wherein said rotatable support member comprises a frame work of polygonal cross section.
 5. A machine, according to claim 1, wherein said support member has a plurality of cutting members extending along the length thereof and of a form and an arrangement in which they extend helically.
 6. A machine, according to claim 1, including a conveyor extending Through said supporting bridge frame for conveying material picked up by said receiving means laterally to one side.
 7. A machine for leveling a mixed bed dump, comprising a supporting bridge frame, support means adjacent each end of said bridge frame for supporting said frame for movement along a path, a rotatable support member surrounding said bridge frame and rotatably supported on said support means, a resilient support web extending radially outwardly from said support member, a cutting member carried at the outer end of said resilient web and having a cutting surface extending in each rotational direction.
 8. A machine, according to claim 7, wherein said resilient web defines material receiving means disposed between said rotatable support member and said cutting member for supporting the material removed by the cutting member for rotation with said rotatable support member to a position at which it overlies said bridge frame, said bridge frame having conveyor means for conveying the material to one end of bridge frame.
 9. A machine, according to claim 8, wherein said resilient web comprises a flexible member extending generally radially outwardly from said support member, said cutting member comprising an arcuate cutting blade, said web forming a receiving means adjacent each end of said arcuate cutting blade for receiving the materials cut away by said cutting member. 